“Packed lunch” trauma

The other day, I was having a conversation with some friends that took me back in the day in Memoire style. We were talking about the packed lunch trauma that those of us whose parents could not afford to buy “hot lunch” or swing you money for chips in primary school underwent (another devastating one was wearing a home-knitted sweater, thankfully my mother could not knit :-)).

See packed lunch for many us did not involve cute deli sandwiches with a ka-fruit etc. packed lunch was leftovers, so if guys had githeri or ugali for dinner that was your packed lunch. Sometimes there were some weird but popular with the group combos like rice and baked beans, but I still remember some dodgy combos especially when things were tight with the domestic budget that made it straight to the dustbin because I didn’t want to look uncool (kids are mean, what can I say). To make matters worse it was in a ka-flask typically with the carb (e.g. rice) on the bottom and the stew on the top, then you had to find a way to extract both from the flask in a non-messy way. Remember those?

I had the double “tragedy” of those flasks with a glass interior, which on top of being way uncool were so easy to break, and so you had to spend a lot of time protecting it lest you face the wrath of your mother who would not cease to remind you just how expensive the flask that you destroyed was (and to drive home the point subject you to cold packed lunch until she could ostensibly afford a new flask). Oh one more thing, at my primary school most of the students were in the school lunch/chips buying variety so even more trauma. The only cool thing about packed lunch for me was that I had an A-team lunch box that my mum had picked up at those auctions that expats who are leaving have in Kenya.

By standard five, I came to the conclusion that the situation was no longer tenable (with the onset of pre-teen angst and all). Unbeknown to my folks, I’d been relying on scrounged money (like when a rela slides you a twenty-bob) to break up the monotony as often as I could (much to the joy of the birds who fed on my packed lunch) but that could only go so far. So I negotiated a deal with my Swa teacher. See teachers at my school could get hot lunch at a very discounted rate and the amount they got was sufficient for me and my small sis. I convinced the teacher to get the lunch for us (she used to have to smuggle it to me, since that was a big no-no) and then convinced my parents that the plan was affordable + and we got to eat healthy food (they had began to suspect that the packed lunch never made it to our stomachs).

43 comments to “Packed lunch” trauma

Congrats on your Kaybee!! funny enough i did envy the packed lunchers and the chips for lunch crew. I had to contend with eating in the DH in primo and trust me that food was just nasty. So my buddies and I kinda singled out the packed lunchers who had the nicest food and immediately after passing through the DH we would ambush them at their fav lunch spot and wait for the leftovers shamelessly

Ha!
These days in the U.S., it’s the poor saps with parents too lazy to pack them a lunch who suffer eating the ‘food’ made in the school lunch room. I’m not sure if leftover ugali would be better or worse than a cafeteria “burrito”. Maybe a little worse, only because there’s no way it could still be warm by the time you ate it.

Take care!

Djeef
United States
(formerly of Congo-Brazzaville [where they make fufu]
and Malawi [where it’s not ugali but nsima])

Thanks for the memories.I had one of them Thermos Flasks and I was so careful with it that it lasted for 8 years after I cleared school!I remember mboff lunches like gith and also fries that would be fresh in the morning but by lunchtime would be rubber!As for our MPs at times I too am lost for words!

I must admit i was one of those kids with a home knitted sweater and yes i was a techer’s kid which wasn’t funny, the packed lunch with my mom while pals have gone for coolies life ….
or at times home made fries … the trauma wxplains alot of things now that i think back

I did everything from hot lunch (which turned out to be expensive junk) to carrying sandwiches & thermoses. As Chris Rock says kids can be cruel – and woe to anyone who dared to carry ugali to school (you ate in isolation ) . I also broke so many flasks, it was not funny, and the penalty was some cold sandwiches (which drove the hawks crazy and their dives more daring) . Now I understand sacrifices and stress i put my mum through.

Oh my! I can remember the hawks that would dive for the hotdogs and meat pies right after you’ve bought them! Its weird how they would be flying all over the school at 12:45 sharp! Just like Bankelele, I broke enough flasks…a sharp pain would pierce through my heart whenever the thing shuttered (always broke while in my backpack). LOL @ baked beans and rice and rubbery cold fries. The lunchtime negotiations & food trading amongst the kids in my primo (name withheld) was priceless!

Ory- negotiated hot lunch very appreciated by your small sis! I still remember the RED flask and juice bottles! Infact, there were to cool and not so cool juice bottles… Remember the juice packs when things were not thick (I forget the name but it was orange juice in a green pack) Good times…good times!

After I broke my first flask on the day it was bought, that was the end of flasks for me. I was the kid with the soccer ball so at lunch, someone else would always grab my bag to take out the ball and I would find it tossed somewhere in the middle of the field (I seriously miss those lunch time soccer games, 8 teams, maybe 5 to 6 ball, 4 goalies to a side but NO-ONE would ever kick a ball belonging to another game (class).

Then I remember when this one girl decided she wanted to play soccer with the boys at lunch and she did. That was quite an event since she had to beat someone up in the process.

I run the gamut from packed lunches to sandwiches to to lining up at the tuck shop (good old HHS, we are the best!!!) to having lunch brought to us at lunch tim e(yes!!) but my parents drew the line at hot lunch. How I envied those kids, it is interesting to hear that those same kids were envying us at the tuck shop.

I have to be real though, like Acolyte, I went though some seriously mboof lunches including gith and mchele with peas & carrots mixed in it (which I still HATE until today) .

The draft bill is online, though maybe the version is a couple of weeks dated. Its whatabouts have been extensively explained -but NOT in the lying and ignorant media, rather in the blogosphere and some other cyber discussion venues.

hawks at lunch time! now that takes me back to HHS where we would sit under trees/or near the hedge to avoid the dive bomb runs. although it was quite cool to flick bits of food and watch them dive down to scoop it up. very cool.

Me, I was with the knitted sweater. My mama could not knit, but my mama’s best fren could. Ma, then its those heavy sweaters with bumps ati for design, and you know that is so not from a shop.

Lunch? Ah! where to start? Besides the fact that my mama made me carry an egg regardless of what was packed…arrrrghed. Evne if it was like rice, it came with an egg regardless!!!
Hmmmph, me githeri nothin!! I refused. I would rather starve than take githeri to school. Kwanza I would cry in the morning till mathe sare’d

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